Goal: Community Impact

Build upon partnerships with community and industry to address pressing societal and workforce needs.

NECC holds a unique position within the local community as an academic institution and professional training ground. We partner on initiatives that close equity gaps and strengthen the economic vitality and social wellbeing of the Merrimack Valley region.

Strategies

1. Complete development of the Center for Equity and Social Justice (CESJ) that leverages partnership with community organizations in the Merrimack Valley.
   By partnering with community stakeholders, the NECC CESJ will become a force that drives change in the college’s service areas. For greatest impact, the college will use an analytical approach when prioritizing initiatives that address well-documented needs. For greatest impact, the college will use an analytical approach when prioritizing initiatives that address well- documented needs. While the full range of the CESJ’s goals and initiatives are still being developed, some of the priorities already identified for its inaugural year include a significant expansion of ESOL offerings in Lawrence to eliminate community waiting lists and the expansion of credential validating services to immigrant residents to increase degree attainment in Lawrence and Haverhill.
2. Develop new degree programs and expand course offerings, ensure that they align with workforce demand, student interest, and community needs.
   Creating additional, sustainable programs will ensure the college’s fiscal health and long-term value to the community. Explore opportunities for non-credit to credit pathways. Align programmatic offerings with Northeast Labor Blueprint and similar studies. Continue to invest in college transfer partnerships, workforce development, with a focus on equity such as the Northeast Regional Collaboration. Support the ongoing change and equity work accomplished by the statewide SUCCESS program and facilitate improvements with system-wide community college collaboration.
3. Quantify the impact NECC has on the local community to continuously assess the fulfillment of our mission.
4. Review, revise, and create new policies that reduce the barriers to entry for community members to begin their academic or skills training path based on their life experience.

Metrics

• Increase the college degree attainment rate in Lawrence by 5 percentage points and in Haverhill by 2 percentage points.
• Based on forthcoming Employment and Wage metrics provided by the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, determine targets for the following metrics within one Fiscal Year of availability.
  • Pre- vs. Post-Enrollment Earnings.
  • Earnings of students who enroll immediately after high school.
  • Enrollment in high-value, non-credit workforce development.
• Reduce unemployment rates in our region to more closely align with state unemployment rates.
• Reduce waitlist for ESOL programs in city of Lawrence by 75 percentage points.
• Create baseline data set to measure Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) credit awards and, working with faculty and advisors, double the number of PLA credit attainment.
• Intentionally align academic offerings and programmatic enrollment targets to national and regional labor data.